Severfield chairman John Dodds is taking temporary day-today charge of the structural steel group due to the ill health of chief executive Ian Lawson.

Above: John Dodds

Severfield has announced that Ian Lawson has taken a temporary leave of absence due to physical ill health.

This is the second time that John Dodds, non-executive chairman since 2011, has acted as executive chairman on an interim basis. He also stood in for eight months in 2013 after the removal of Tom Haughey before Ian Lawson was recruited.

John Dodds and Ian Lawson previously worked together at Kier for 10 years.

Severfield finance director Alan Dunsmore has agreed to assume the role of chief executive until Mr Lawson’s return and Adam Semple, current group financial controller, will temporarily take on the responsibilities of finance director.

Commenting on the announcement, John Dodds said: "I will work closely with Alan and the wider team during this time and in the meanwhile, on behalf of the Board and everyone at Severfield, I would like to wish Ian a full and speedy recovery".

Meanwhile, in a trading update, Severfield said that business continued to be good and the financial results for the year ending 31st March 2017, to be posted in June, will be ahead of expectations.